1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly, to a method of eliminating static electricity introduced from the exterior of the liquid crystal display (LCD).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, static electricity is substantially stationary as an electric charge existing on a nonconductor and is produced by friction or an electrostatic induction, or other such conditions. Static electricity creates problems in a liquid crystal panel during a manufacturing process of the liquid crystal panel so as to cause a reduction in a manufacturing yield of the liquid crystal panel.
For instance, as shown in FIG. 1, the conventional liquid crystal panel includes a thin film transistor (TFT) matrix 20 formed on a lower glass substrate 10, a shorting bar for gate lines 22 for testing gate lines of the TFT matrix 20, and a shorting bar for data lines 24 for testing data lines of the TFT matrix 20. The gate lines of the TFT matrix 20 are connected to the gate line shorting bar 22 via gate line test electrodes 16 while the data lines of the TFT matrix 20 are connected to the data line shorting bar 24 via data line test electrodes 18.
The upper end of the lower glass substrate 10 is provided with a gate pad area 10a including a gate driving integrated circuit(IC), and the left end of the lower glass substrate 10 is provided with a data pad area 10b including a data driving IC. Further, the center of the lower glass substrate 10 is provided with the TFT matrix 20 switched by control signals and video signals of the gate and data driving ICs.
The shorting bars 22 and 24 are connected to the TFT matrix 20 to test a characteristic of the TFT. For this purpose, the shorting bars 22 and 24 are connected to the gate line test electrodes 16 and the data line test electrodes 18, respectively, each of which is connected to the gate lines and the data lines of the TFT matrix 20, thereby forming an electrical path along with the TFT matrix 20. Also, the shorting bars 22 and 24 deliver a test signal from outside of the TFT matrix 20 into the interior of the TFT matrix 20 to test the TFT matrix 20. Such a characteristic test of the TFT matrix 20 is carried out after the TFT matrix 20 has been formed on the lower glass substrate and before a liquid crystal material is disposed thereon. Since the shorting bars 22 and 24 can be formed on the gate pad area 10a and the data pad area 10b due to a structural characteristic of the LCD, the shorting bars 22 and 24 are located at the opposite edges of the gate pad area 10a and the data pad area 10b. Such a structural characteristic may be applied to a liquid crystal panel of a chip on glass (COG) type or a TFT panel manufactured by a low-temperature poly-silicon process.
A liquid crystal material layer 14 and an upper glass substrate 12 are sequentially disposed on the lower glass substrate 10 which has been determined to be normal by the test of the TFT matrix 20 as described above. The lower glass substrate 10 along with the liquid crystal material layer 14 and the upper glass substrate 12 disposed on the lower glass substrate 10 is cut off along lines A-Axe2x80x2 and B-Bxe2x80x2 as shown in FIG. 1, thereby providing a liquid crystal panel shown in FIG. 2.
However, the cut gate line test electrodes 16 and data line test electrodes 18 are exposed at the edge of the lower glass substrate 10 of the liquid crystal panel having a sequentially disposed structure as shown in FIG. 2. The exposed test electrodes 16 and 18 apply static electricity from the exterior to the gate lines and data lines of the TFT matrix 20, respectively. This application of static electricity causes damage to the TFTs included in the TFT matrix 20. As a result, a stripe-shaped defect is generated at the liquid crystal panel and a manufacturing yield of the liquid crystal panel is reduced.
To overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel so as to prevent an introduction of static electricity from the exterior of the liquid crystal panel.
In order to achieve these and other advantages provided by preferred embodiments of the present invention, a method according to one aspect of preferred embodiments of the present invention includes an etching step for removing the ends of test electrodes formed on a lower glass substrate on which a liquid crystal material layer and an upper glass substrate are disposed.